Four's a crown: Princeton High boys' swimming is MCC champion again

PLAINSBORO — In the annals of Princeton High School athletic greatness, it’s safe to say that Will Stange and fellow swimmers are the latest entrants.

He and his Princeton High School boys’ swimming teammates won their fourth straight team title at the Mercer County Championship Saturday. Amassing 277 points, the Little Tigers came in one place ahead of Notre Dame (239) who finished second for the fourth straight year.

Stange (pronounced Stong-uh) was chosen the meet’s Most Valuable Swimmer.

“It felt incredible,” said Stange who set two records. “I wasn’t expecting this at all; (it) couldn’t be better.”

Stange swam a time of 56.85 in the 100-meter backstroke, shattering his record of 57.75 which he set in the preliminaries a day earlier. He also placed first in the 200 IM (2:07.42), breaking Josh Rosenbluth’s 2005 mark of 2:08.60.

Stange was also an integral part of Princeton’s meet-opening victory in the 200 medley relay, as were Colburn Yu, Avery Soong and Matt Purdy. They swam the event in 1:50.24.

“Coming back from prelims yesterday, it’s great to see how much they could do,” head coach Greg Hand said. “Across the board, kids were stepping up.”

Yu’s individual first-place finish came in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.84). Teammates Alex Bank and Christian Chiang came in second and third, respectively.

Princeton’s Peter Kalibat won two races, posting times of 1:57.71 in the 200 freestyle and 4:08.83 in the 400 free.

The only non-Princeton record-breaker was Aly Sayed of West Windsor-Plainsboro South. His mark of 56.21 in the 100 butterfly eclipsed Victor Honore’s 2012 time of 56.82.

“I was focused on this only today,” said the Egyptian-born Sayed whose team finished third (167). “I wanted the record, and I got it by half a second. The butterfly is my favorite. I am a butterfly stroker.”

Princeton and Notre Dame were neck and neck for first and second. Part of the reason was because the Irish’s Max Cummings once again defeated longtime Tiger counterpart Purdy in both the 50 and 100 freestyle competitions.

“I’m pretty happy about it,” Cummings said. “I was really looking forward to today since yesterday I tied Matt in the one race.”

Purdy and Cummings finished with an identical 24.67 in Friday’s 50-free prelim. Saturday, Notre Dame earned a first-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay (3:38.13) just ahead of Princeton.